


No longer his kingdom.

by LunnVic



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Gen, This Is Also Volleyball! zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:20:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22365532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunnVic/pseuds/LunnVic
Summary: "A king with a crown made of broken bones and broken nails and broken dreams. Not gold this time, not even silver this year."__A piece about Oikawa Tooru for the This Is Also Volleyball!! zine.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	No longer his kingdom.

They call him king.

They call him king and his jaw just does this thing where it goes up, up to the sky, proud and glorious and feral even in pure silence. They call him king and he smiles and he rules. He feels the cold touch of gold in his palms even if they have never held it before (not even once). We are talking about the crown, of course.

But where is the crown?

Well, he has one. He’s a king, after all.

A king with a crown made of broken bones and broken nails and broken dreams. Not gold this time, not even silver this year. He doesn’t remember the last time he touched something bronze; it’s warm against his palms, like his insides turned out viscera. As if it were made with every breath and every night cry and every time Iwaizumi drew his blood. Maybe that’s why it’s brown.

But he’s a king, and not just any king: the Grand King.

And that’s why he smiles, and calms the criers, and laughs with the jokers, and puts the bronze trophy on the shelves. It’s over. This is no longer his kingdom. And, when it’s time to go, the words come clear to him because that’s what he does. Because maybe he doesn’t know how to win, but he knows what to say.

Golden heart, silver tongue, bronze medal.

“You know,” he says, after, while changing clothes. “They call me king, sometimes. The grand king.”

Iwaizumi’s skin is still sweat-shiny, his eyes red with past tears, but he snorts anyway.

“Yeah, some people do that.”

“No, I mean…”

“I know what you mean.”

Silence. The locker room looks like a battleground, a mix of sobs and bandages and sprays and defeat. Oikawa looks at him, wary, and Iwaizumi says:

“You don’t need it.”

“What?”

“You’ve said it yourself: they call you king. Because they knew it all along.  _ We _ knew it. You don’t need any gold shit, you never did. Not a crown, not a medal.”

Oikawa opens his mouth to protest, to say something more, but nothing comes out. Oh, how he hates when Iwaizumi is right (and he normally is)... So his jaw does this thing where it goes up, up to the sky, and his smile, crooked and savage, wins that last battle.

He’s a king, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the second (2/2) mini piece I wrote for THE symbolism zine, called [This Is Also Volleyball!](https://twitter.com/HaikyuuSymbols). I had SO MUCH FUN and I'm sosososo glad that they let me write about Oikawa AGAIN.


End file.
